The International Symposium on E-Learning will feature plenary session addresses by some of the world's leading thinkers and innovators
in the field,
as well as numerous
parallel presentations
by researchers and practitioners.

Please return to this page for updates as speakers are added.

Peter Burrows

Dr Peter Burrows is a Senior Research Fellow at the Globalism Institute at RMIT University where the focus of his research is the application and impact of pedagogical theories related to Learning-by-Design and the use of multimodal and participative research methods. He has numerous research publications in education, research methods and design.

Anne Cloonan

Anne Cloonan worked in schools in Melbourne’s north and west and literacy policy and resource development for the Victorian Department of Education, before moving into teacher education at Deakin University. Recent collaborations with the Le@rning Federation, the Catholic Education Office’s ‘Curriculum Literacies’ Project and her PhD studies reflect her interests in teacher learning and pedagogies for teaching multimodality.

Bill Cope

Bill Cope is a Research Professor in the Department of Educational Policy
Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA and Director of Common
Ground Publishing. His current research interests include theories and practices
of pedagogy, cultural and linguistic diversity, and new technologies of
representation and communication.

Rita van Haren

Rita van Haren works with teachers (K-10) in the Lanyon Cluster of Schools
in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), focusing on multiliteracies and curriculum development. She has
worked as a primary and secondary teacher and in many ACT system leadership
roles developing more inclusive pedagogical approaches.

Mary Kalantzis

Mary Kalantzis is Dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinios Urbana Campaign US.
She also is an Adjunct professor at RMIT University,
Melbourne, Australia, attached to the Globailsm Institute and Research Director
of the Knowledge Design Forum. She was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of
Education, Language and Community Services at RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia from 1997-2003, the President of the Australian Council of Deans of
Education from 2000-2004 and an inaugural member of the Australian National
Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership 2004 – 2005. She has also
been a Commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Chair
of the Queensland Ethnic Affairs Ministerial Advisory Committee and a member of
the Australia Council’s Community Cultural Development Board. Her academic
research and writing, crosses a number of disciplines, including history,
linguistics, education and sociology; and examines themes as varied as
Australian immigration, leadership and workplace change, professional learning,
pedagogy and literacy learning. With Bill Cope, she is co-author of a number of
books, including: 'The Powers of Literacy', Falmer Press, London, 1993,
'Productive Diversity', Pluto Press, Sydney, 1997; 'A Place in the Sun:
Re-Creating the Australian Way of Life', Harper Collins, Sydney, 2000;
'Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures',
Routledge, London, 2000; and 'Learning by Design', Victorian Schools Innovation
Commission, Melbourne, 2005.

Les Morgan

Les Morgan is an artist, educator and researcher with diverse experience in educational settings in Britain and Australia. Morgan is a recent addition to the Learning by Design project team.

Mary Neville

Mary Neville is currently Regional Manager-Literacy for the Greater Brisbane Region, Education Queensland. Over the last 20 years Mary Neville has been a primary teacher and has held various curriculum positions in the Queensland Education Department, leading many projects related to literacy and assessment across the phases of learning. In 2006 she was Project Officer for the 2006 Middle Phase of Learning Cluster Project and a Research Fellow at Griffith University working on a literacy, numeracy and assessment research project with Professors Claire Wyatt-Smith, Joy Cumming and John Elkins. In 2005 Mary was Project Officer for the statewide DEST Literacy and Numeracy in the Middle Years Initiative working with 15 cross sectoral middle years clusters focusing on assessment and curriculum literacies and numeracies. Mary has also worked closely with Professors Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope through her work based role and her M.Ed research at RMIT and has published a chapter in their most recent book, Learning by Design.

Stephen Paul

Stephen Paul has had nearly 25 years experience as a school principal in four schools. He has been Headmaster of John Paul College since 1998. He holds qualifications in education and business administration from the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology respectively. He has been the author of a number of History textbooks and has contributed over many years to conferences and publications in relation to education administration, leadership and curriculum at state and national level. In recent years, he has given a number of keynote addresses at national conferences in relation to aspects of e-learning and the creation of a Connected Learning Community at John Paul College, Queensland’s largest independent school.

Julie Robinson

Julie Robinson is the Director of Curriculum and Blended Learning at John Paul College in Queensland, Australia. Julie's role involves extensive liaison and collaboration with the Directors of Teaching and Learning in the College's Primary, Middle and Senior Schools. She is responsible for streamlining and unifying approaches to learning, curriculum and assessment. In particular, Julie facilitates the integration of technology into curriculum, assessment and administration processes. She also promotes twenty-first century education through providing staff with access to relevant professional development opportunities. Julie has conducted professional development workshops at John Paul College and presented at national and international conferences on topics including: behaviour management, technology, Middle Schooling policies and processes and catering for individual learners.

Keiju Suominen

Keiju Suominen is a PhD student with the Learning by Design ARC Project. Previously, she worked for the ACT Department of Education in a variety of roles including as the Language for Understanding Across the Curriculum Executive Policy Officer, the Anti-Racism Executive Policy Officer and most recently as an Executive teacher with the Lanyon Cluster of schools.